1. Field of the Inventions
Coolant slurry clarification apparatus and methods of a portable nature for service of a material reducing machine sump, such as the sumps of metal grinding or cutting machines, wherein coolant is delivered to the machine working site and gathered, along with the detritus of metal reducing work, and conveyed to the sump for subsequent recirculation to the work site, after the heat absorbed by the coolant has dissipated in the sump and the detritus in suspension in the coolant has settled into the sump lower regions.
2. Description of Prior Art
Portable clarifying apparatus and methods are not new in the art. The earlier prior art structures and methods contemplated the provision of a portable chambered body that could be trundled to a serving position, adjacent a machine, the sump of which was to be cleaned. Means was provided by which the pneumatic pressure within the body chamber could be varied, under the operator's control, from positive to negative. This allowed, when negative pressure prevailed, flow of the sump content from the sump through a conduit connected to the chamber and inserted in the sump to the space within the chamber. As the slurry entered the chamber, it engaged and was caused to pass through a filter, separating the detritus component from the liquid component. After the entire content of the sump had been thus withdrawn, the operator disconnected the intake conduit, either physically or by valves, and connected a return conduit, either physically or by valves. Then, by subjecting the chamber space to positive pneumatic pressure, the clarified liquid component was extruded from the chamber and thus returned to the sump. The detritus component was contained in and captured by the filter which was later lifted from the chamber for dumping and disposal.
Subsequent developments in the prior art resulted in moving the filter from the chamber inlet to the chamber outlet. This greatly enlarged the capacity of the apparatus to continue operating, notwithstanding large deposits of filter called detritus. In each of the above described instances, however, it was necessary to shut the machine down whose sump was being clarified. Those skilled in the art will immediately recognize the serious increase in operating costs in consequence of shutting down a production machine.
In more recent efforts to avoid the necessity to shut the served machine down, during the period of sump cleaning, certain workers in the prior art, of whom BAXTER of U.S. Pat. No. 3,121,691 appears typical, sought to clean sump slurry continuously. This was accomplished by means of a battery of filters, triggered to come into culling position from standby exterior cleaning stations and to return to such stations, as each filter becomes choked with detritus. Such apparatus and methods have proven expensive and troublesome in continued maintenance.